Until the start of this year, I was a happy Pebble customer. When they got (mostly) acquired by FitBit and stopped officially supporting their watches, I happened to also be ready for a new cell phone: in February I decided to go all Samsung, and got a Galaxy S7 phone and a Gear S2 Classic watch (uglier for a woman than the Pebble Time Round I’d been wearing, but better than the even bigger/bulkier Gear S3). Nine months later I’m still not crazy about the size and weight, there are a lot of features on the watch that I don’t use, and Samsung seems completely uninterested in scaling a watch for female wrists. I’d been waiting for details about the Gear Sport, which I’d heard would be smaller, but turns out it’s only smaller than the S3; it’s slightly bigger than the S2.
Because I’ve realized that form is more important to me than most functions – all I need is an always-on display, and email/text/call notifications – I’ve decided to look into other watches. I know that the newer Apple watches will work with Android, but I’m not crazy about that design (though it’s better than the S2): I want a watch that looks like a watch, and that won’t look out of place if I’m in heels. And, like I said, I just want an always-on display and notifications; I don’t need GPS, heart rate monitoring, step tracking, weather info, the ability to make or answer phone calls, etc.
I’ve done some preliminary research, and I think it’s down to either the LG Smart Watch Style or the Huawei Watch. I’m leaning toward the Huawei, even though it’s slightly more expensive (and I don’t know how to pronounce it [“WAH-way”?]).
Does anyone have experience with either the LG or the Huawei? Recommendations? Warnings? Are there any other Android-compatible watches – with the form factor and features I’m looking for – that I should seriously consider?
I did more research today, and the Huawei is chunkier than it first seemed. I’m now leaning toward the LG (after briefly considering the Asus ZenWatch 3). C|NET’s “cons” for the LG were mainly the lack of features/apps I don’t care about. They also weren’t thrilled with the battery life – averaging 20 hours, with the same phone I have – but that’s actually not much worse than what I get now with my S2. The “silver” version is currently out of stock on Amazon, so I won’t be pulling any triggers any time soon, but I think the LG Watch Style might be the winner.
Garmin’s are always on display & have notifications. If you don’t use the GPS, they can go for days before needing a recharge. Just a thought to consider. This link is just to their activity trackers, they also have additional wearables in the running category.
I still use my Pebble Time. I wish i could find something just like it. I’m dreading the day i have to replace it. I like having the always on display, and the battery still lasts at least nine days.
I was really upset when Pebble just kinda shrugged and walked away.
Needless to say I won’t be buying anything Fitbit.
I have one that I’ve loved for about 6 months now but its on the opplsite side of the spectrum from you’re looming for giant and packed with features. I won’t recomend my model but i willsay in general there stuff is very well made and reliable. My brother in law also has one of a different model that he loves of a different variety so I’ve got at least two data poi t that they don’t suck though they may be too feature rich for you.
Thanks to both of you, but as Oredigger77 guessed those are *not *what I’m looking for. In order to get a style I like, I’d have to pay hundreds of extra dollars for a bunch of features that I don’t want.
I actually went looking for my old Pebble Time Round the other day. It’s not where I thought it would be, so I’m hoping I didn’t throw it away (figuring it wasn’t worth trying to sell/give away). I’ll look in some other places this weekend, and if I find it I’ll see if I can re-download the software to my phone. If I still have the watch, I might actually prefer continuing to use it for as long as I can.
I, too, was quite bummed when Pebble up and folded their tent. I’d Kickstarted one of the next generation watches, and had been expecting delivery for a month or two. We kept getting vague “production delays” emails, then finally the announcement that Pebble had been sold and we’d be getting refunds instead of watches.
A little bump just in case I missed my target audience the first time…